Summer & Starfish

Summer is getting married! For those of you who don't know, our friend and nearby Somis neighbor, Denny just proposed to his girl, Summer, in front of 100's of women at the Women Discipling Women Conference that Summer puts together each year at Grace Community Church. We're so happy for the 2 of them, and to add to the celebration, we all met up at a beach in Palos Verdes for Denny's 38th birthday.

There the girls got to see spectacular starfish, sea anemones, and sandcrabs like I have never seen (outside of a zoo or aquarium) in my life, it was pretty cool. So congrats to D and starfish are cool, who knew?

Meanwhile, this week is VBS at our church, it's only Tuesday, and I could swear it should be Friday. Pray for strength, stamina, patience, love, and the ability to smile gently when kids raise their hands and share stories completely unrelated to the one you just told them.

Ministry

My dad has been a part of Samaritan's Purse for years now, and through this medical missions group, he's had multiple opportunities to travel the globe, helping others with free dentistry and passing out shoe boxes filled with toys and necessities poor families need. This week he goes to Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe. There, people will line up to see him, and he'll have days where he works on one person after another for the entire day. He'll visit orphanages, and endure uncomfortable surroundings for the sake of the gospel.

Meanwhile, back at home, my mom will spend her weekend going back and forth from my 90 year old grandmother's house, to check on her, and make sure that she's still alive, that she hasn't fallen, that she's had something to eat. She'll check her diapers, her sheets, she'll clean up her messes. She'll try to engage her in conversation, but she'll only receive a blank stare for her efforts.

In 2 weeks, my dad will return, and the church will ask him to share about his adventures. He'll be able to tell his patients and his friends amazing stories of miraculous testimonies and experiences. People will praise him and be impressed by his adventures. Nobody will ask my mom to share about the fact that she's unable to travel even for a weekend to see me because she has to stay close to my grandma. Nobody will marvel at her daily trek 5 minutes from her home to check in on her aging mother. She's the unsung hero.

I'm grateful that my dad has the opportunities he has to use his gifts and talents and that he knows many "important" people in the Christian world that he's worked for and worked with to facilitate great things for the Lord. But, I'm also grateful for my mom and her testimony to me. She's doing a thankless job right now, one that may only last a few more weeks, or may stretch on for years to come. As mother's sometimes, we long for travel, for adventure, for a break in the monotony of the daily service for our children. We long to make speeches and write books, and have our voices heard. We long to be recognized and praised and thanked. But our ministry is right here, right now, at home - scrubbing floors, changing diapers, washing dishes. We probably won't be asked to share about our adventures in suburbia in front of our churches next Sunday, but we're on just as much of a mission as my dad is this week in Moldova, and my mom is back in Visalia.

Let us not forget that.

How do you spell Karaoke?

So last night we had a send off for one of our military wives, Mandy, who is leaving us to go to Sunny Seattle. (What? I'm trying to be optimistic for her). Anyway, it was a super fun pajama/karaoke/dance party. There's nothing like seeing a bunch of moms act like crazy teenagers. It reminds me of the fact that I'm so not a fun person. In my defense, let me say this, I realized what separates people into two different categories: Those who love karaoke, and those who prefer to sit on the sidelines and watch others enjoy it; it's this - the people who like karaoke can actually carry a tune. Duh, I mean if I wasn't completely tone deaf, I'd be the first one to grab the mike, but it's not fun if you're the worst singer ever in the history of the universe, come on. The girls that rocked out last night were the ones that could've been American Idol contestants for Pete's Sake. I know that the reason the Lord gave me a terrible voice is because I would've been so obnoxious if I could sing. I'd make everyone listen to me belt out Celine Dion numbers, and I'd throw myself on top of pianos for dramatic effect. It wouldn't have been pretty. It's for the best that I can't tell the difference between Josh Groban and Brittany Spears, seriously they both sound fine to me.

Anyway, we'll miss our friend Mandy being at church. She's so funny and full of mischief. It was good to have an artsy free spirit in our no drum playing, hymn-singing midst!

Meanwhile, the beat goes on around here. Please note, I cut my hair all off last Thursday in an attempt to look like Rhianna. Weirdly enough, it didn't work, but for the time being I'll just compensate with big earrings and sunglasses. That's what the Olsen Twins do, and it seems to be working for them.

Why Little Kids Are Gross: A Haiku

They drink bath water.

No really, they do, It's true.

Makes me wonder, why?

The Martyr Complex

I'm sure none of you out there ever play the martyr, rather you all embrace your roles in motherhood with joy and gladness. I, on the hand, am not quite that sanctified yet, so I occasionally, okay daily find myself playing the martyr. This week has been especially bad, because every night this week Dan had to work on 2 of our cars, and I knew that he would be gone all day today (Saturday) too. So just to be especially pleasant, I've been saying things like this:

"I've been home all day long with the four of them, and now you want to spend the evening working on the car.... no, that's fine, it's just kind of like a long continuation of my day..... I'm like a single mom."

"Oh you went out to a really nice lunch today and someone brought food to you, and cleaned up after you, that's nice. I made the girls peanut butter and jellys and ate their scraps to save money."

"It's weird how most of the dirty laundry is from you and the kids, and yet, I'm the one that does it all."

"What me upset? No, I'm just a little tired from taking the kids swimming today. It was just me with four unskilled swimmers in the pool trying to keep them all afloat simultaneously. O, did I show you the bruises on my thigh from where they kept kicking off on me to swim back to the side?"

"The beach? Oh yeah, it was great, it just took me an hour to clean the sand out from the van afterwards, but you know me, anything for the kids."

Looking back, I may have been a tad bit difficult this week. This morning Dan let me sleep in and went and got doughnuts for the kids and Starbucks for me to assuage his guilt before leaving for the day. That small gesture made me happy, and it made me feel guilty because I must have really laid it on thick this week to evoke such a gesture. What can I say? I'm a work in progress.

Summer in Somis

Summer days:
I'm finding that the key for a stay at home mom during the summer is lots of trips to the park and to the beach.... This year we've gone to the beach a lot because I've finally got 4 kids that can walk on their own, no strollers to be lugged across the sand, or bottles of milk to try to keep cold, just caprisuns, PB & Js, and a bag of oreos, and we're good to go.

And in the evenings, for the first time in my mommyhood, I'm letting them stay up "late" and trying to relax about the "schedule," it's actually pretty fun, the girls are having a blast, and it didn't take them long to figure out what the ice cream truck is all about.

Summer in Somis is simple, low-key, and I'm likin' it.

Bikini Babe

Let's face it, some chicks are just born to wear a bikini.